Today (Friday), NASA’s space probe, Juno, which began its orbit of Jupiter last summer, provided spectacular close-ups from the planet for the first time. The pictures that were published show the weather conditions on the planet that is hundreds of millions of kilometers away from the Sun.

The pictures show gigantic storm clouds and cyclones at the north and south poles of the planet. “Think of a bunch of hurricanes, every one the size of the Earth, all packed so close together that each hurricane touches the other,” explained NASA scientist Mike Janssen. “Even in rooms of hardened researchers, these images of swirling clouds have drawn gasps.”

Photo credit: Reuters/ Channel 2 News

The Juno probe traveled a distance of approximately 2.8 billion kilometers over the past 5 years to reach the giant gas planet. The incredible data will help scientists understand the planet better than ever before.